Avatar: The Only Shadowbender
by King of Monsters
Summary: He is the silent one. The one the darkness has bestowed it's powers to. He fights to end the war. But first, he'll need to find The Avatar.
1. Chapter 1

Avatar: The only Shadow Bender

I own nothing.

In another world, the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water can be used in an ancient art called Bending. Those that practice this art are called Benders. There are the Air Nomads, the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, and the Fire Nation. In each generation, one person is capable of Bending all four elements; this is the Avatar, the spirit of the planet manifested in human form.

There once was a long-standing peace in this world, were all the four nations were as one. But for one hundred years the Fire Nation has been fighting an imperialistic war to gain power. Only the new Avatar can bring peace. But the Avatar is a child still learning how to use the elements to restore the order of the world.

He has many friends, but he is about to gain one more. It is true that the four elements are the founding pieces of the world along with the Great Spirits, but there is another element that has never been wielded before. Let the story of The First Shadow Bender's rise to a new life begin.  
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A beautiful day has blessed a small area of the Earth Kingdom; a fairly large field is seen next to the start of a mountain side. A young girl is seen picking flowers, and humming to herself gleefully. The girl is about eight in appearance and has steel-gray hair. She wears white cloth on her body tied with a red sash. A very distinguishing trait that you could see was her eyes. One of them was a deep gold, the other was a clear blue.

She plucked her last flower, a bright blue flower with purple-ish lining. She giggled energetically at what she had done, a beautiful bouquet of flowers all put together. She knew he would like this. She happily started walking to the mountain roads wear she knew she would find him.

A young boy was sitting under a tree on the beginning of the road that lead up the mountain, his eyes closed in relaxation. He enjoyed moments like this. The cool breeze along with the sun's warmth, it made him feel at ease and rest.

He was about fourteen, and was wearing a sleeveless black silk cloth over cover outlined with green. Over it on the waste were smoke-gray wrappings and a green sash. Under the over covering cloth on his upper body he wore black skin tight clothing that covered his neck, all of his arms, and his middle and ring fingers on both hands. He had the wrappings on his forearms as well. His pants were baggy cloth that covered the top part of his boots.

His body, from what could be seen, was lithe and not very bulky, his face was sharp and seemed to look like it could have come from nobility. But the things that could easily catch you r attention were three things: His hair, his skin, and his eyes.

His skin was a pale that had near to no color in it whatsoever. His hair was a light stealing jet black reaching to his shoulder blades.

But his eyes, they were the shocking thing about him. Though they were closed at the moment, if they were open you would have seen blackness. His eyes were black as well as his irises. But his irises had a small white at the edge of the circles and they looked to be made out of polished, shining onyx.

He was resting peacefully in the shade when he started to hear the sounds of a pair of small feet, pit-patting their way towards him. He knew who this was.

"Hello Enya. Where have you been?" he asked with eyes still closed. His voice in a soft, soothing tone.

The young girl named Enya came to a halt in front of her friend.

"Well, I went down to the small field back down the road and I got these for you big brother Jikan." She said with her little voice.

Jikan opened his eyes and looked at the young girl before him. He had found her about a year ago when he was thirteen. She was a seven year old who had gone through something no one should have had to go through. Jikan had saved her from that bad thing, and she had been his little shadow ever since traveling along with him and calling him her 'Brother Jikan' from time to time.

"You picked these for me? What caused that?" he asked in a playfully questioning voice.

Enya just smiled and said, "I just wanted to. You seemed sad so I wanted to cheer you up.

Jikan took the flowers gently from her and looked at them.

"I'm not sad Enya, just enjoying the land. As you just did. You didn't need to pick any flowers for me." He said while looking at her. Her face soon was slowly turning to a saddened one as he said that. He put his hand on her head and moved it around a little so it unsettled her hair a little.

"But thank you for them and the effort. It was very kind."

Enya smiled brightly at his words and Jikan decided to get up, flowers still in hand.

"Now then, lets get back to the road now shall we?" Jikan asked, strapping his pack onto his shoulder. "And you may want to carry the flowers. You have a gentler touch than me." He said as he passed the flowers to Enya.

"Yeah and you have big hands that might smoosh them." She said.

"Says you." In reality, Jikan had somewhat feminine hands with nimble fingers. They seemed large to Enya by comparison with hers.

They continued their way up the road heading for their destination of the earth city of Omashu to restore their supplies. They came to a fork in the road and took a left. They kept walking for about twenty-five minutes until they started to round a corner, were Jikan caught sight of a fire nation flag. Jikan quickly pulled back taking Enya with him hoping they weren't seen. He slowly and silently backed up then walked again back down the road, but with extreme caution shown in his eyes.

"Why'd we go back Jikan?" Enya asked.

"There were Fire Nation soldiers back there Enya. If they saw us, they probably would try to capture us." He replied.

"But aren't we from Fire Nation?" Enya asked innocently.

"Yes, but we have to avoid them for very good reasons."

"That's why you play dress-up with earth clothes right?"

Jikan sighed. "Enya its called disguise not dress-up. And I'm certainly not playing."

"I still say its dress-up."

Indeed that was the life that Jikan and Enya led. They were both born in the Fire Nation but left because of their own….unfortunate predicaments. Jikan had left not only because of his predicament but he had become disappointed in his country and its thirst for conquest.

He now traveled with Enya around the Earth Kingdom, disguised in Earth Kingdom clothes so that he was disguised. Every opportunity that had shown itself that would help to slow the war, Jikan would do all he could. There had been victories, losses, and some unknown outcomes that left Jikan hoping.

Then Jikan heard that the Avatar had returned. When this information reached him, his hope started to rise. He started to look for the Avatar in every place he looked. So far he hadn't seen hide nor hair of them.

Jikan and Enya walked strait back to the fork in the roads and started down the other path. It would take a longer time to get to Omashu on this road but it would keep them from the fire soldiers.

They kept walking and talking softly about what would happen when they got to Omashu. Enya was using her imagination to imagine her eating the best sweets she could find.

Jikan had his own response.

"You know that would get you sick right?"

"No it wouldn't! I'd be just fine. But you need more food Jikan! You look really skinny!"

"That's just how I am."

They were close to rounding a corner. Jikan continued on.

"Its not like I'm not eating its just that I like to stay fit. If I was going to be a piece of fat meat I'd be-"

They rounded the corner, right into a base of Fire Nation Solders. Looking strait at them.

"Dead meat." Jikan finished.

"You took the words right out of my mouth kid, GET THEM!!!" one of the soldiers yelled.

Jikan grabbed Enya as fast as he could and started running back the way they came. The soldiers weren't far behind. He could tell by the fire they were bending at him. He wasn't about to fight back; this was not a good position. Fighting back while running as well as having Enya in his hands would slow him down putting both of them in greater danger.

Soon he even started hearing the foot-falls of a bird mount. (Can't remember the names of the ostrich things.)

Finally he reached the fork in the road. He started to catch his breath as the sounds of the camp started to come after him.

"Enya, hide!" he said as he set her down. She obliged by running into behind some rocks near the fork. Jikan threw his pack to the ground.

He took what little time he had to catch his breath; he would need it. When the soldiers came they all had made a half circle around him. There were exactly eight. They were all baring down on him with their helmet masks covering their faces. All but the one that had exclaimed earlier.

"Your coming with us kid. Nobody is allowed near here. And since you're from the earth kingdom, you'll have to go to the dungeons." He said.

Jikan looked strait at him, something that he could tell was unnerving the soldier because of his eyes.

"And if I refuse?" Jikan asked.

"Then I don't really think I have to explain what will happen."

"If that's the case then I refuse in every essence of the word." Jikan replied. He settled into his fighting stance. Feet spread with his body facing sideways, left hand pulled back and in a fist palm up. His right arm out with right hand up with hand open and fingers together.

The lead fire soldier was visibly angry now. This earth citizen thought he could defy them so easily? Even if this guy was an earth bender he'd teach him a lesson.

"I've had enough of this kid. Get him!"

Jikan's reaction was immediate. Using a technique he made a long time ago, he shifted his feet slightly. The result was small pieces of his shadow rising onto his boots, covering them with blackness.

This was his power: Shadowbending.

Jikan moved forward and started to move as if he were skating. In which he was. This technique covered his shoe in shadow and eliminated all forms of friction against certain points on his foot. The other points he kept traction on for momentum. This gave him speed and allowed him to keep his footwork.

The fire soldiers started their own Firebending, hurling fire at him as he moved. Jikan kept maneuvering himself to prevent being hit while still moving.

Jikan decided to take the offensive as he moved toward three of the Firebenders and cut off loss of friction. He started sliding toward the soldier and stopped by slamming his hands onto the ground. He used his momentum to pull his legs back and turn his body in a circle, then forcing his legs out again while in movement. His legs slammed into the Firebender's right leg, toppling him over.

Jikan stopped the movement and put his feet back to the ground leaving him face up. The other two Firebenders were about to perform their strike, but Jikan didn't give them the chance as he performed a handstand and turned to the side, barely being missed by the fire shot at him. The Firebender that he had taken down however had received the full force of it and was sent back a few feet into the rock side as well as feeling the fires sent at him.

Jikan spread his legs and rotated his body while putting more of his shadow into his feet and shins. His right leg hit the back one of the soldier's helmets, his left hitting the mask of the other. A few seconds after his legs connected, the helmets seemed to minorly explode on the opposite sides of were Jikan hit them, making small metal pieces fly off of the helmet.

This was another trick Jikan made. He used his shadows to control the impact of his hits to cause more damage in the impact and not the actual blow. It was made to incorporate into his fighting style.

The two Firebenders went down immediately. Jikan flipped himself back into position and faced the last five. Jikan moved forward again.

"Don't just stand there! Stop him!!" the head soldier was dumbstruck. What type of bending was this? Exploding attacks, fast movement, and the kid seemed to know how to fight and maneuver himself in combat as well.

Jikan was moving forward at top speed again and before he made contact with the Firebender he moved his right hand back into a fist and put in front of it his left hand, palm forward. Shadows were coming out from under his cloth down his arm covering his hand.

The Firebender tried to perform a fire attack but Jikan had gotten so close that he moved his left hand out to knock his hand away, stopping the bending. Jikan punched out with his right and turned his fist with his index and middle finger knuckles out. When he hit the Firebender the shadows on his hand separated and formed a ball with spiraling whisps attached to it slamming into the bender causing unconsciousness. All the while the ball kept going, taking the Firebender along for the ride into the stone wall.  
Two more Firebenders tried to attack him from behind. Jikan had performed a front roll then stood. He quickly slid his right foot out while pulling his left leg back as if he were about to kick something. He let loose his left leg and from his shadow came an arcing wave. Jikan jumped up and forward on his right foot, so another arc came out of his shadow.

The first arc hit one of the Firebenders; the other was blocked by the fire made by the other. When Jikan landed he crouched low and put his left foot out. Then he used his hands to balance his body so that he could rotate himself in a moving circle. While he was rotating his shadow moved up onto his left leg, then his right when he put it up. The result was a halo of shadow moving with his legs in a constant circle moving toward the Firebender.

The Firebender kept launching fire attack after fire attack but the halo of darkness that kept moving toward him was making the fires become launched into different directions.

Finally Jikan performed a handspring forwards while rotating so that he became in midair. He spiraled forward and landed his right shadow less foot onto the Firebender's chest, then kicked his left shadow encased foot into his head. The Firebender was sent flying sideways, his feet dragging along making dirt paths.

Jikan landed and looked to see the last two benders, the leader and his last soldier, about to take fire on him.

Jikan jumped and slammed his feet down onto the ground, then his hands. The fires were launched at him.

Jikan moved his hands up swiftly in a crossing motion then put them together at the forearms in front of him. His shadow expanded and rose up in front of him in a wall form. The fires hit the wall but dissipated almost instantly.

Jikan then started to make a circular motion with his hands and arms while pulling back, making the shadow start to move to him, then pieces of the shadow were detached and a section of the shadow was gone allowing the soldiers to see what he was doing.

Jikan kept moving his arms and hands, making the pieces move along with them. He then stopped the movements and put out his arms, made a grabbing motion with his hands, then pulled back. He moved his body around in a quick 360, swiping the ground with his right foot in the circle.

He finished the motion, put his foot out, and thrust his hands out towards his opponents until his arms were fully out with his hands open and forward.

The result was many dart like objects made from the shadow being launched at the fire soldiers in a barrage.

The leader moved out of the way but the other Firebender wasn't as lucky. The darts hit him full on, causing an impact were they hit his body making him jerk back at every hit, as well as tearing off a few pieces of his clothes were there wasn't something solid behind them.

The leader was now alone.

Jikan dashed forward and the leader started to bend fire to try to keep Jikan away. Jikan used all the agility he had to avoid the fire. When he got close enough, Jikan rotated himself to the right and brought his right hand up in a fluid motion. Something that could only be described as a whip made out of shadow came from in between his index and middle finger.

The whip sliced through a fireball that would have hit his head had it connected. Jikan made another whip with his left hand and cut another fire attack. Jikan kept rotating his arms to make the whips keep cutting.

Neither of them was letting up as the Firebender kept attacking and Jikan kept slicing. Finally, enough was enough. Jikan put his arms together and swiped downward diagonally above the leader. Some of the rocks above him were cut and dislodged, making them fall.

The lead Firebender rolled forward so the rocks wouldn't wound him. But when he looked up at Jikan he saw him make a fist and punch the air, making another orb of shadow fly out towards the leader.

The ball hit full force knocking the Firebender back. Jikan punched two more times making connections. This made the Firebender fly back into the rocks, knocking him out.

The fight was over.

Jikan stood and breathed slowly to calm himself. Then he smelled something burning. He looked down to see his cloth was on fire.

Jikan exclaimed and quickly undid his sash and removed his cloth and stamped out the fire.

'Well that one's ruined.' He thought. He went over to his pack and drew out another cloth exactly like his old one. Except instead of green it had a dark purple hue color for the lining.

"It's okay now Enya. You can come out." He said as he put his cloth on.

There was no answer.

"Enya?" Jikan called out. He took up his pack and moved to the rocks to see her. But when he got there he wasn't there.

All that remained were the foot prints of a mount.

"Oh no." Jikan realized. He had heard the steps of a mount but there wasn't one when he was fighting. They must have taken her.

Jikan cut off his friction and moved as fast as he could, following the tracks. He didn't know just how far they could have gone but he wasn't seeing them.

Soon he came to a hill and started up it. When he got to the top, he was shocked.

There was Omashu, now under Fire Nation control.

That was where they were keeping Enya. He'd have to go in and find her. This was not looking to be his day.

Jikan made no friction again and started moving towards the city.

"Hold on Enya, I'm coming."


	2. Here to help

After so long I can only guess that you guys are wondering 'What the Hoo-Ha took you so long!' Well all I can say is this.

Blah.

Yes that is my excuse. The word, blah. But enough of that, lets get back to work shall we? Now that, sadly, the series has reached the finale, I know what to follow, and don't have to guess one the future episodes. We are all greiving at the end of the series but hey, remember, there ARE movies coming out made by the very imaginative M. Night Shamalan (did i get his name right?) Anyway, lets get going. I don't own crap. P.S.-If the story goes well, I think i might try doing something I dreamt up about Avatar then wrote down. And to Sajira, my dear I am sorry for the time space but I assure you I will not kill this story.

Jikan slid down the dirt path as fast as he could. He was moving at such a speed that the tail of his cloth over jacket was flapping behind him. He was following the ostrich-Horses track and making progress but he still couldn't help his worrying mind.

'Dang it. How far ahead did this guy get? Was he traveling by the time I started fighting with the soldiers? If he did he must've gotten a decent head start. I need to go- whait a sec. Perfect.'

Jikan saw coming at him a fire soldier on a mount as well as two others on each side of him. The one on Jikan's left side was weilding a halberd, the other had a pair of swords. The one in the middle threw out his arm to sent a fireball at Jikan. Jikan maneuvered out of the way to the left and kept going. The swordsman made a strike and an arc of fire was sent out. The man with the halberd did the same. Jikan changed direction to be in the middle of were they were coming at him. He then stopped by jumping forward onto his hands and performed a hand stand. When his legs came up, he put them into a 'V' shape and let them fall forward. From his feet came his own arcs, only in a black color. The arcs collided and forced each other to violently dissapate. Then the center soldier fired again. Jikan rolled out of the way and stood up, then dropped the back of his hands to the ground, opened his hands then closed them and raised his hands back up.

The shadows of the Ostrich-Horses grew tendrils and wrapped around their legs. All of the mounts toppled over forward and their riders fell off. Jikan started to move forward towards the soldier that had the halberd, who had gotten himself up and made a swipe at Jikan at a distance but Jikan's foot came up and caught the side of the blade and slammed it down. When it reached the ground Jikan swiped his foot on the ground towards the halberd and broke it by bending a peice of his shadow on his toe. His leg went up in the air in front of him and Jikan knew that the soldier was getting back up so he swung it back down to bend a wave of shadow into the body of the soldier, tossing him back. Jikan looked around to see the other two soldiers looking at him with shock. Most likely wondering just what he was bending.

"Listen you two, I'm wanting answers, so you're gonna have to give them to me or.." Jikan directed his left arm to the soldier he tossed away, making the soldier's shadow burst up taking the soldier with it, then dropping him down behind the soldiers Jikan was addressing, "You can wind up like him."

The soldiers looked at their fallen commrade, then back at Jikan. They started to punch out their arms but Jikan punched his out faster. Two streams of shadow came from Jikan's own hands and blasted into the two soldiers sending them to the other soldier, just as he was getting up.

Jikan walked up and grabbed one by their armored coller. "A soldier on an Ostrich-Horse today took a little girl with him away from here. Was it you?" he asked.

The soldier groaned before he answered. "Ohhh, no I didn't know of any girl, Sang over there was the one who told us to come with him." The fire soldier motioned to the other soldier lying face down trying to get up. Jikan let go of the soldier and moved on to the one called Sang.

"Did you or did you not take a little girl to Omashu today?"

Sang looked at Jikan with anger, "Yeah, so what, Its mandatory to put all citezens found back into the city, any who resist, get the 'special' treatment." He finished his word with a cruel smile.

"Were and why did you take her?" Jikan asked menacingly.

"I'll never tell you, I'm of the Fire Nation, a proud soldier who would never do anything that the enemy asked!"

Jikan backed away from the soldier, who was smiling at Jikan and was just about to get up when,

"Hhssssssssss."

Jikan brethed out through closed teeth, then brought his arms up and set his legs apart. His shadow enlarged and swirl around him in an orb, then started to cover Jikan's body untill all Jikan was completely covered in his shadow. Then from his shoulders came two tendrils, his hands grew claws, his head gained horns, and he seemed to grow, and grow until he was looming completely over the fire soldiers.

"TELL MEEEE!" Came a furious voice from the black spectre.

"I took her to the captain, who reported it to the governer, he said to just put her in one of the holding rooms that had been recently refurnished. They were going to keep her there untill we had brought you. The rooms are on the underground levels of the palace, the furthest door on the right when you first enter the main doors. We were hoping to get you to try and get her so we could ambush you, I saw you fighting our squad and taking them down, so I thought this'd be payback, I told the captain I took her from a resistance camp. Please don't hurt me."

The shadow shrunk and dissapated until Jikan stood there normal. He turned and gave his back to the soldier, who had gave out a breath of releif. That is, until he saw the black shoe increasing in size as it came towards his face at a very fast pace.

-  
Meanwhile...

"Alright little girl, be a dear and tell me, were is the camp."

In the refurnished room Enya was sitting with her feet over the edge of the bed with a bowl of candy on her lap. The newly oppointed governor of Omashu was preasent along with his daughter Mai, and a pair of guards. The governor was currently 'questioning' Enya.

"What camp?" She said.

"The camp that you come from." the Governor said.

"I don't come from a camp."

"What do you mean?"

"I think dad, she means that this is a waist of time because some idiot tried to get promoted." Said Mai as unenthusiastic as usual.

The governor turned to one of his gaurds and said "Captain, I thought you said she was from the resistance camp that has Tom Tom."

"We had thought so too, a member of our scouting squad had said that someone was fighting the squad and this girl was with them."

"An Earthbender?"

"No sir, the scout said he was bending some weird-"

"You know, you might want to let me go." Enya said.

"And why is that little one?" The governor said to Enya.

"Cause if you don't, my big brother's gonna get you."

"Little girl, this is a city were there are guards on every corner and soldiers at every door. How could your brother get in here and get to you?"

"Cause theres so many people you can't see him, you'll neeeeever ever see him coming. Then he'll getcha." Enya said, shaking her head childishly as she said the word 'never.'

"R-really, well-"

"Sir, we've just received word, Princess Azula is coming here!"

"What?!"

"Finally." Mai said, "Something is actually happening." She then walked out the door in hopes of the day getting better.

"We'll have to make arrangements. Tell all gaurds and soldiers to be at their best, the princess is coming." The governor walked to the door as well, but was stopped by the captain.

"Sir, what should we do about the girl?"

The governor looked breifly to Enya, then turned back to the soldier,"Put a gaurd on duty here. And keep the door locked."

"Yes Sir."

As the Captain walked out and started to follow the orders given to him, he thought of the little girls words. But there was no way any enemy could get into Omashu unnoticed, let alone to this room.

"Alright go on in."

"Thanks."

A lone soldier on his Ostrich-Horse continued forward as the other had ordered to open the gate. He continued on until he was a good ways into the city, then stopped. He looked up to see the great palace and seemed to study it.

"That soldier had better been right about were Enya is, or I'm coming back for him."

Jikan thought back to when he had finally gotten all the information out of the guard and basically mule-kicked him into unconciousness. Then he stripped the guard of his uniform and put it on himslef. Thankfully it fit to the extent to were he wasnt having all of the cloth hanging off him. He stayed non conpicuous as much as he could to not draw any attention to himself, and thankfully he had a mask on so noone could see his eyes.

"Now he said that the way to get to the dungeons was to go through the main doors of the palace. So I just have to go to the palace. I have the feeling this won't be easy." Jikan urged his mount to move forward. As he did so he heard a noise behind him.

RUMMMMMMMBLEEEEEE

The doors to the city were being opened again. Jikan turned back and urged his mount to go faster. For some reason he felt compelled to get the heck away from whatever was coming through the door.

After a small time, he finally got to the front of the palace. He grabbed his bag and put it on his back. He stabled the Ostrich-Horse with his supply bag on it and started up the stairs. Halfway up the stairs a young woman with a bored expression on her face was walking down. Jikan stopped and said, "Good evening ma'am."

She responded with, "Keep moving."

Jikan kept moving and when he thought he was out of earshot he whispered to himself, "She was cute."

"I heard that." He heard.

'Dang it!' was his only thought.

Jikan opened the door and entered the palace. Furthest door on the right. Thats what the soldier said. Jikan ran to the door but stopped when he heard a noise from the stairs that led up to the higher levels.

"Quickly honey! She'll be here any minute! We have to be ready!"

Jikan quickly opened the door and closed it behind him. He walked on a short flat stone walkway that eventually led to a set of stairs that lead downstairs. Jikan kept going until he came to a hallway with rows of cell doors on the sides. Jikan was thankful that the Fire Nation never had the tolerance, or the acceptance to learn Earthbending to ensure that there wern't even any doors to open unless you were an Earthbender. He slowly moved forward through the hall. He looked into the cage doors and saw nobody, thanking the spirits that he didn't see anyone suffering.

Then the thought came to him, maybe Enya was suffering. Jikan started to get worried. His heart pounding in his chest, he hoped that he wouldn't have to see Enya like that.

"Enya?" he whispered out. "Enya, can you hear me?" Instead Jikan heard another sound.

"Hey, who're you! I wasn't yold anyone was releiving me yet."

Jikan saw a gaurd walking towards him. Jikan, on instinct, crouched, sprung forward under the man inbetween his legs. Jikan slammed his gloved hands into the ground and planted his feet in the ground and lifted himself up. When the man turned around Jikan shot out his leg as fast as he could. He hit the man on his chin and sent him flying back into the bottom of the stairs. Jikan took up a stance and waited. Noone else came.

"Thats it? Why can't they all be this easy?"

"Jikan?" he heard a small voice at the end of tha hall.

"Enya! Hold on I'm coming!" He was a few feet away from the barred door, "Don't worry I'm here!" Jikan turned on the ball of his left foot and slammed his left foot into the bars. The wave of shadow sent into them blew them off their hinges. Jikan charged in yelling to Enya.

"Enya I'm here!" Jikan charged into the room were he finally saw Enya, while she was eating from a bowl of candy.

She innocently held out the bowl and said "Want some?"

Jikan then fell to his knees and breathed out a very big sigh. "Alright Enya. Lets get the heck out of here."

"Ok." Enya jumped off the bed and walked over to Jikan who picked her up and ran out the door back down the hallway were the man was getting back up. As he was passing him Jikan kicked him in the head to knock him unconcious.

Jikan ran up the stairs up to the door were he slowly opened it to look outside. Noone was there. Jikan walked out the door and closed it behind him. Jikan ran to the door but stopped when it suddenly started to slowly open. Jikan made no friction under his foot again to move back to the stairs. When he reached the foot of the stairs he made his shadow extend upwards to launch himself up to hide behind the railing of the top floor. Jikan didn't bother looking to see what or who came through the door and crouched while he still had no friction so he made no sound.

Jikan made his way upwards as he could only figure that was his best way out. But something was off. There should have been at least a few servants. Something must have been going on to have even servants and cleaners to not even be in the hallways. Jikan decided that he'd best not risk being caought at this point.

"Enya, hold on tight." Jikan went to the window and looked out of it. There was a ledge just wide enough for someone to walk on. Jikan carefully put his right foot on the ledge and used his free hand to cling to the wall. Jikan pulled his other leg out and started to move along the wall. He just needed to get to the roof so he could get to a spot were he could hide. As he walked on the legde he kept thinking not to look down.

"Wow," Enya started, "Thats a long way down."

Jikan froze and slowly turned his head to Enya who was still holding onto Jikan with her arms around his neck.

"Thank you Enya for letting me know that. I feel so much more confident."

"Your welcome." She said with a smile.

Jikan continued until he reached a rooftop. Being carful not to slip on the roof tiles, he carfully put as little weight into his steps as he could. After a few minutes he reached the top of the palace, were he looked up to see a giant statue of Fire Lord Ozai still under construction. Jikan took little time in observing the statue as he ran into the bamboo and wood add-ons to the statue to look for a place to rest.

"Well, if this thing doesn't serve as an ego booster I don't know what does." Jikan said to himself. "Are you okay Enya?"

Enya merly looked to Jikan and put up her arms.

"Yep, I'm okay."

"What happened in there? Did they do anything to you?"

"Nope they just kept asking me were the 'Rebel Base' was or something like that."

"Rebel Base?" Jikan questioned.

"Yeah, the old man kept asking me if there was anythinbg about his son that he needed to know."

"His son? This is strange, they obviously mistook you for someone else. But what could they have been wanting so despirately from a little girl?"

Crrrrunk!

The wood around Jikan gave a large shudder under his feet.

"What the heck was that?" Enya asked.

"I don't know, it felt as if something big had just walked around on the ground making the wood reverberate. Enya stay here, I'll be right back."

"Okay."

Jikan moved as silently as he could around the statue to see what had made the disturbance. But when Jikan had gotten on the other side he couldn't see anything that would be big enough to cause such a disturbance. But as he moved around behind all the construction structures, he saw at the far end three people. Well, technically four. A boy in red and yellow, a girl in blue, and another boy in blue and was carrieing a baby. They just seemed to be standing there, as if waiting for something or someone.

That was when Jikan heard the footfalls from the other end of the statue base. He looked over to see three people who he could tell were girls, although he could only see two faces.

The first was a girl with a bright expression and her hair in a ponytail. The other was the girl with the look of boredom on her face that Jikan had seen when he entered the palace. He could have been able to tell what the third girl looked like if he moved so that the construction equipment was out of the way and not blocking his vision, but he wouldn't dare move to attract attention.

As he stayed there frozen the three girls stopped. When they did he heard a clinking above him. Jikan looked up to see a metal coffin being lowered down to the floor behind the girls.

But before he had reached the ground the man shouted "Hi everybody!"

'Who the heck is that?' Jikan thought.

Then the bored looking girl spoke, but Jikan was too far away to make out all of what she said.

In response to her, the boy with the red wrapping around his head responded. Again, Jikan couldn't make out what was said but he did hear something like 'trade.'

Then the girl who's face Jikan couldn't see had started to say something. Jikan still couldn't make out what was being said, but he caught a few peices of the speech and the voice seemed familiar.

One part Jikan had heard were the words 'Earthbending King.'

'King Bumi?' Jikan thought.

Just then, the bored looking girl stepped forward and shouted in a dull voice, "The Deals off!" She raised her hand and the man who was supposedly the king of Omashu was lifted upwards.

While this was done the man shouted "See you all later!"

"Bumi!"

The boy with red and yellow clothes shouted as he charged forward, moving just as fast as Jikan did when he used no friction movement. Jikan took this oppertunity to move back into the darker areas of the building equipment. As he did so, the faceless girl charged forward too and brought her hand in an arc downward and forward to bend BLUE fire.

Jikan sheilded his eyes as the fire burned bright and hot safly away from him, but close enough to still make Jikan wince.

'Wait! Blue fire? That means...'

Jikan's heart began to race as he looked again to see the flames go by but the boy was up in the air.

'What the-?' He thought. Then he saw the wrapping on his head fly off before the boy caught it with his teeth. When Jikan saw the arrow tattoo on his forehead he thought only two words.

'The Avatar.'

Which apparently was what the girl had said at the same moment he was thinking it. She said something else about a lucky day and raced to a winch nearby. Jikan poked his head around the corner of one panel and saw the girl bend her blue fire. The he saw her face. The held back hair, the two bangs over her face, royal features and a grinning face that made his blood colder than what he already thought it could be.

"Princess Azula! Woah!"

Jikan proclaimed that last part as he ducked aroun the panel to hide as he covered his mouth.

Azula however looked down briefly as she could have sworn someone had said her name. The voice caught her but she easily dismissed it. She had bigger things to worry about at the moment.

Jikan moved as quickly and quietly as he could back to whare Enya was hiding. As he did so he thought about what just happened. He had found the Avatar, he had friends, they were about to do something with who could have very well been King Bumi, and now the princess of the fire nation was here. He needed to speak with the Avatar and tell him of how he wanted to help him. But he was definatly going to be occupied with Azula at the moment. So...... best to go help his friends first and think about the whole Azula being here thing later. Right now he needed to tell Enya something.

When he reached her he immediatly scooped her up in his arms and started moving back to were he was.

"Whats happening Jikan?" She asked.

"We are about to make new friends Enya." Jikan replied.

"Yay!" Enya cheered.

"But listen to me, I'm going to drop you off again and you need to stay were I put you until I come to get you again, okay?"

"Okay." Enya agreed although a bit saddened that she had to stay put again.

Jikan swiftly made his way back to the front of the statue again and stopped in front of it and behind some panels. He set Enya down and told her one last time to stay put and be quiet. She gave one more pouting 'Okay' and Jikan started moving again. When he got close enough, he saw the boy and the girl running to the edge of the wooden platform.

'Okay, if I wanna help them, I need surprise, can't just charge in so...blindside!'

Jikan turned around and set himself in a sprinters position, he attatched his shadow to the correct areas of his feet, and then..

SWISHHHH!

Jikan bolted without any friction to his right behind the panels as fast as he could, and gaining more and more speed. Jikan kept going faster but he felt he was taking too long. Jikan was going all the way around the statue to gain speed. His cloth was fluttering behind him and his jet black hair was flowing behind him. When he was more than halfway around he saw the Avatar going down the earth transport slides and being pursued by Azula behind him.

'Gonna have to make this fight fast.'

Jikan finally made it to the other side and saw the girl try to bend a water puddle on the wooden floor. As he aproached he heard the bored girl on the right begin to talk.

"How are you gonna fight without your bend-"

"SURRRAHHHHHHH!!!!" Jikan let out a war cry in the middle of her sentence as he jumped forward in betwen the two girls.

Time seemed to slow for Jikan as the two girls turned to see him blur between them. As he did so he turned his body and raised his shadow along with his feet. Two arcs trailed behind his legs as he was facing the ponytailed girl and his back was to the bored girl. Jikan kicked his right leg forward at the girl with the ponytail and his left leg back at the bored girl.

"Ha!"

Bam! Bam!

The bored girl was hit with an arc strait down the middle of her entire body. She was sent flying backwards and nearly went over the edge before she brought out a dagger to stab into the wood and keep her from falling.

The ponytailed girl however was hit and sent back a ways before she back flipped and landed on her hands to ground her feet. As she looked up to see what it was that just hit her, she saw another thing coming. Jikan had turned and lifted his left leg behind behind him and slammed it into the floor. The girl was lifted up into the air by some unknown force to her. Then Jikan kicked his foot forward and from behind the girl on a panel, a black column had shot out to sent her flying forward. Jikan let his body fall down backwards as she flew over him screaming. She would have went over the edge all the way, but she was able to grab her mellow friend to keep her from falling.

Jikan got up in time to see the girl in blue look at him with shock. Jikan looked back at her strait into her eyes. He could obviously see something akin to fear in her eyes and he couldn't blame her. It's not everyday you meet someone whos eye color is resembling that of polished onyx.

Suddenly Jikan felt something go over his head and he saw the boy in blue from earlier catch some sort of boomerang....only he was on a big six-legged flying bison.

'Never seen one of those before. Time to get Enya.'

Jikan bolted without friction again and dissapeared into the building panels. He shortly came to see Enya sitting there as she turned to face him.

"Brother Ji-"

She didn't get time to finish as Jikan hoisted her up into his arms. Jikan then turned back to were the girl was. When he reached the open platform he saw that the girl was just getting on the flying bison and taking off. Jikan went faster as the bison was airborne.

"Hold on Enya." Jikan said as he freed his right arm. Just as he reached the edge of the platform, Jikan threw his arm down and caused his shadow to lengthen and send him upwards and flying.

'Workworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkwork!!!!' Jikan kept thinking rapidly as he soared throught the air towards the bison.

Thankfully Jikan landed right in the back end of the giant saddle that was on the bison's back.

As he landed the two 'drivers' looked back to see Jikan and Enya sitting there. Then they saw Jikan get up and race towards the bison's head.

"Hi, could you just watch her for a bit? Please and thank youuuuuuuu!" Jikan rushed out as he ran past the two and jumped off the bison's head, strait down to the slide below.

The two up front looked down as he fell and the boy turned to the girl.

"Ummmm Katara.....who was that?"

"I don't know." The girl responded.

They both then turned to look at the little girl behind them.

"Hi." Was the only thing she said as she waved to them.

~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile Jikan was falling down to the solid rock slide below him.

"Come on, were are you?" Jikan muttered to himself as he looked towards the slide. Then he saw it, the dark spot. His shadow.

"Aha!"

Jikan pulled his right arm back and the shadow below hind grew and extended into a slide of it's own. Jikan landed on it and began to slide down onto the stone slide were he put his shadow on his feet again but this time he had them absolutely covered. He positioned his feet to were he was standing sideways and his right foot was far ahead of him and his left foot stayed behind.

As Jikan slid down the slide he noticed that Azula was firing at the Avatar who was still on the metal coffin. He also noticed that the flying bison was flying close to the two as well. That was when the Avatar tried to push off the slide with his airbending. He was successfull but he overshot and went right over his friends. Luckily he landed on another slide, broke through it, and started going down another one.

Jikan looked forward to see Azula about to do something to get on the same slide.

"Hope this works." Jikan said. He fisted his hands in front of his chest, then shoved them forward with his palm face down and his fingers out.

Jikan's shadow extended down the slide past Azula's transport cart. Azula herself was didn't know what to make of it when a blackness suddenly went beyond her cart and she was even more shocked when spikes pointing back towards her cart extended. Her cart hit them dead on but as it started to tip forward, Azula spout out fire to propel herself upwards and into her cart, making it fly up and over, strait down onto the slide the Avatar had landed on. Were she continued her persuit.

Jikan kept sliding down but now with a frown on his face.

"How useless was that?!" He said to himself. He turned back to the slide ahead and smoothed out his shadow. He turned back to see that Azula had shot out a spiraling wheel of blue fire down the slide towards the Avatar. Jikan was about to do something when the old man's head suddenly leaned upwards and a pillar of earth rose up from the ground to stop the wheel.

"Yep, useless." Jikan said flatly as he watched Azula jump off of her cart and start sliding down on her own for a short while until she stopped.

'My turn.' Thought Jikan as he made his shadow extend once more, but into a ramp this time. It grew and curved over towards the other slide that the Avatar had been going down. Jikan put all his weight forward at once to speed up considerably. He hit the ramp head on and was sent into the air again.

"Why do I keep doing this?!" He said to himself as he flew forwards. He made it to the slide successfully though, and continued going down the ramp.

"Hope that didn't get too much attention from her." He said. The LAST thing he needed was for her to recognize him.

Jikan kept going until he saw the strangest thing. The old man in the coffin was laughing while being pushed back up the slide by a boulder. Jikan jumped forward as the coffin went by and as it did so, Jikan could specifically hear the man say 'Hi.'

Jikan kept sliding when he landed and looking back for a second he said to himself, "Huh, never thought I would see that."

~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the kid with the yellow and red clothes was just about to get on the bison when he noticed the extra passenger.

"Hey guys, who's that?" he said pointing to the litlle girl.

"Ummm....we have no idea?" The boy in blue said smiling at the end.

"Some guy just dropped in and, there he is!" The girl said pointing behind the Avatar to the slide. The Avatar turned around to see a boy a little older looking than himself sliding down towards him. When the boy reached the end he jumped forward, tucked in his legs, and rolled forward untill he was right in front of the Avatar were he stood back up and started breathing harder.

There they stood, a young man in bright clothes, and another in dark.

"Hi." He said.

"Uhhh hi. Who're you?" The Avatar said.

"Oh, sorry....-Breathes-...I'm Jikan, and that's Enya." The boy motioned to the girl on the bison. "You're the Avatar right?"

"Yes....." The Avatar said slightly.

"We're here to help."

"Oh, umm. Thats great, I'm-"

"Aang! We have to get going!" The boy in blue yelled to his friend.

"Aang huh? Nice to meet you."

"You to, come on, you look like you need a ride." Aang said as he ran to the bison.

"You have no idea."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meanwhile, as Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai were walking down the streets and discussing their objevtives.

"It's not just Zuko and Iroh anymore, we haave a third target now. As well as a small mystery that I intend to solve involving whoever that was that nearly stopped me from getting the avatar."

"Yeah, that guy was fast, I didn't even get to get a look at his face." Ty Lee said, "His bending was wierd too, what was that?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out. There's something familiar about whoever that was and I won't stop until I find out who they were."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back on the bison Jikan felt a chill down his spine. Which was very uncommon for him.

"Uhhhhhhggg. Don't get too many of those."

"What now?" said Aang.

"Oh nothing." Replied Jikan.

"Alright now that there is no immediate threats to our lives, just who thew heck are you?" said the boy in blue.

"I told you my name, you two are the only ones who I don't know." Jikan replied.

"Sorry about that, my brother's got a big mouth. I'm Katara, and this is Sokka." said the girl.

"Pleasure to meet you both. As I told the avatar,-"

"Please, just call me Aang." Aang said.

"Alright, as I've told Aang, my name is Jikan, and this is Enya." Jikan said introducing himself and the little girl who sat on his lap.

"Ok we know your name but, why did you go through all the hastle to get to us?" Sokka asked.

"As I said, I'm here to help you, and in any way shape or form."

"Why?"

"Well I'd tell you that and more but," Jikan looked around to thee the rocky land below him, "I think the shock might cause me to go overboard."

"Huh?" Was Sokka's questioning statement to Jikan's remark.

"Brother Jikan, I'm hungry." Enya said.

"Oh no. They still have our things back there."

"'They'? Back were?" Aang questioned.

"Long story short, my little friend here was taken and put in one of the holding cells or prisons or whatever they'd want to call them and I had to go get her. I thought I'd be able to go in and out with our things but, complications arose. But don't worry Enya, I'll get something for you to eat."

"Actually, we're staying at a rebel camp nearby. They have some food there." Katara suggested.

"That would be great." Jikan sighed.

"Yay! Freach food!" Enya squeled.

"Awww, shes so cute. Is she your little sister?" Katara said fawning over the child.

"Not exactly, but certain cercumstances brought us together in a mutual relationship."

"What do you mean?" Katara asked.

"Like I said, that part is best saved when I'm on the ground and have a good full stomach."

Soon the bison, which Jikan had learned was named Appa, had landed. But as they had gotten off their friend, Aang made a decision.

"You guys stay here, I'm going to return the baby to his parents."

"Alright, we'll be right here." Katara said as Aang took flight on his glider.

"Be careful, we don't wann have to go through this again!" Sokka yelled.

About an hour later Aang had come back to see that Katara was caring for a sleeping Enya, who was apparently stuffed from all the warm food. Apparently she and Jikan had only eaten dried food that Jikan had cooked up himself whenever the need came around. Jikan was sitting comfortably while Momo seemed to be challenging him to a staring contest.

"Hey guys, what's going on?"

"Aang. Did you deliver the baby?"

"Wow that sounded strange." Sokka said as he came to sit down with his sister and Jikan, needless to say he had a plate filled with food.

"Yeah I got him home. So ware's the food, I could use some."

"Here ya go." Sokka said extending a hand with a bowl in it.

"Thanks." Aang said as he started to eat.

"Sooo, Jikan is it?" Sokka asked.

"Yes." Jikan said.

"Sorry if I seem a little persistant but, I gotta ask again, who are you? You said your name yeah but, why are you here?"

"I'm here for the same reason you guys are here, I wanna help stop the war."

"Good enough reason for me." Aang said lifting his spoon in the air before eating again.

"Hold up, everyone wants to end the war, but not everyone comes looking for the Avatar. Why did you?"

"Sokka cut it out! Jikan obviously just wants to help because he can, right?" Katara said turning to Jikan.

"Well, it's not just that."

"What do you mean?" Katara asked.

"Well I suppose I should stand up for this in case I need to run or fight, and I might as well do this the whole 'proper' way."

"Huh?" Was the resounding reply of the three who were looking up at Jikan.

"My name is Ji Kan Rao, receiver of the gift from the Spirit of Night, and a proud son of the Fire Nation. 


	3. The Swamp

I own nothing. Sorry for the long update time. Promise to pay you guys back for your patience.

Katara, Aang, and Sokka sat there looking at Jikan as they took in the words he said.

"What did you say?" Katara asked with wide eyes.

"It's as I said, my name is Jikan, and I am from the Fire Nation." Jikan said as he stood there seeing the shocked faces of the three in front of him. Immediately they reacted in the fashion Jikan some what expected how they would.

"I knew there was something I didn't like about you!" Sokka said as he stood up and pulled out his club. Katara and Aang were up as well, Aang with his staff, and Katara had her hand on her water skin.

"Wait please! I'm not going to try to hurt you! I want to help you!" Jikan yelled defensively.

"Like I'd believe that!" Sokka yelled before charging at Jikan. But before he could reach him...

"YOU STOP RIGHT THERE!" Enya's little voice yelled. Sokka froze in a battle pose with his club still in his hand. "My big brother walked a long way to be here and help the avatar!" Enya started to walk forward as she spoke. "We came all the way from the Fire Nation, we snuck on boats, we ran from soldiers, and left our home! You are NOT going to chase us away! You're going to sit down and LISTEN!"

Plop! Sokka fell flat on his behind with wide eyes. "Okay..." he feebly said.

Enya was breathing deeply to catch her breath while Jikan placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her.

"Please Enya, don't yell. They have the right to be suspicious of us. But I'll talk to them. You go get some rest."

"Okay." Enya said as she started to walk toward Appa, but before she did she gave Sokka a brief glare.

"I'm sorry, Enya can be rather...loud. I can only imagine what she would sound like if she were older." Jikan said as he watched Enya cuddle up into a blanket next to Appa. He looked back to the three in front of him and found them to still have suspicious looks on their faces. Jikan sighed a little at this and thought about what to say next. "May I sit?" He asked hoping to start a conversation.

Aang looked to Katara and Katara looked back at Aang. "We can stand." Katara stated.

"Fair enough. Seeing as you are the ones requireing more information than me, ask me anything you like."

"Okay, how did you find us?" Sokka asked when he finally got back up.

"I didn't actually. It was a stroke of luck that we happened to be at the same place at the same time."

"Why are you here?" Sokka pressed looking intently at Jikan.

"I said why I was here. To help the avatar stop the war." Jikan replied slightly confused that Sokka would ask a question that he already knew.

"Why would you want to stop the war?" Sokka asked again.

"Why not? Nothing good comes of this war."

"Not unless you're Fire Nation monsters." Katara said darkly.

"WE ARE NOT MONSTERS!" Jikan yelled back. Though this made Katara pull out a moderate amount of her bending water and Sokka brought up his club again. Aang still stood with his staff ready in a more tightened grip. Noticing this Jikan took a breath and sighed sadly. "I apologize. But it is not my people who started this war. It was our leaders. Two to three generations worth of speeches of supremacy, and grandeur spoken by power hungry men wanting a power that should never be attained. They are, sadly, my homeland's true monsters." Jikan finished with a downward cast look of sadness.

The three slightly relaxed from Jikan's words but they still had more questions. This time Katara had something to ask. "What makes you any different?"

"I see things much differently than my Fire Nation brethren. Yes, from childhood I was raised to believe that our people where destined for global greatness. That our cause was just and noble on a heavenly scale...but what cause could be so wonderful that it had to take lives in order to see it to fruition. Lives of the Air Nomads," Jikan looked to Aang "lives of Water Tribesman," he looked to Sokka and Katara, "lives of people from the Earth Kingdom," he looked to the former citizens of Omashu, "even the lives of those who held no allegiance in the war, and held absolutely no involvement in it." Jikan finished by looking at Enya, now sleeping soundly.

"You don't mean.." Katara started.

"Yes, Enya's parents lost their lives thanks to this war." Jikan sadly said. "I saved her and took it upon myself to see that she stays safe. Yet another reason why this war must end. In my eyes, no dream or ambition is worth the taking of life."

All four of them were quiet after Jikan said these words. Then Aang asked the next question.

"What made you want to end the war?"

"At first I just had questions as to why we needed to expand our territory. Then I thought about the how. Whenever I would ask my parents they would always say that the answer was obvious, it was the way it was meant to be. I was then confused, but it became clear what my parent's mentality was on a day when my father took me to a battle on the edge of the Earth Kingdom. I saw what my people did, and listened as my father told me that I was bearing witness to the greatness of the Fire Nation. But our 'greatness' came from violence caused by our Fire Lord's urge to conquer. So I pleaded with the spirits to show me what this war was truly about and I was answered."

Jikan looked up to the night sky while he looked to be recalling a memory. "It was the Spirit of the Night that had given me a look at what the war was truly doing for us, and what it was doing to the world. Everything was being thrown out of balance, out of place. So I asked him if there was anything I could have done to help end the war. Then he told me of you Aang." Jikan looked back down to face Aang. "He told me that you were the one who would be able to end it. That if I could find you and give you my hand in assistance, I would assuredly help to stop the senseless destruction. To aid me he also gave me a gift."

"A gift?" Aang questioned.

"Yes, you see, I am of the Fire Nation yes, but I had next to no firebeding skills. I could perform basic sets but only those taught to children just starting. So the Spirit of the Night told me to travel to an open area that had no lights lit except for the stars and the moon. I did so and he bestowed upon me a form of bending the world had never seen before and the knowledge to perform it."

"What was that?" Aang asked again.

"I could then on bend shadow." Jikan said while making a basic hand movement to make his arm's shadow rise from the ground into a curving form in front of him. Needless to say, Sokka, Katara, and Aang were amazed by this.

"You can bend your shadow?" Sokka asked.

"Not just mine. Any shadow around me I can use to my advantage. Just as Earthbenders, Waterbenders, and Airbenders control their elements.

"That's what you used on those girls in Omashu!" Katara said in realization.

"Yes. It has been very useful. It's also given me some side effects but nothing I consider life changing." Jikan said while bringing his hand to his face just below his right eye.

"That's why your eyes are that color! We had a friend who was gifted by a spirit too but she had white hair." Aang exclaimed.

"But she looked a lot better than you do." Sokka said with his arms crossed.

"This is why I wish to help you. This is why I came all this way. I beg you Avatar Aang, let me help you to end this war bring peace to the world and end my homeland's shame." Jikan spoke to Aang with pleading eyes, hoping for the best.

For at least a solid minute Aang stood there looking at Jikan and thinking. Katara and Sokka looked between them waiting for an answer. Finally Aang stepped forward until he stood directly in front of Jikan.

"I think you're telling the truth, and I don't think a spirit would give power to someone unless they thought that person could be trusted with it. So for now I'd like you to come with us." Aang smiled as he held up his hand.

"It would be my honor Aang." Jikan said shaking Aang's outstretched hand. Though after they were done shaking hands, Sokka and Katara stepped forward. Though they had put their weapon and water away.

"Okay so you'll be coming with us, but we'll be watching you." Sokka warned.

"If you do anything that even resembles the actions of anyone we've already met that was from the Fire Nation, we will stop you." Katara said in her own warning.

"I understand." Jikan replied.

"Okay guys, come on. We need to get some good sleep. We've got traveling to do in the morning!" Aang said while trying to push Katara and Sokka to their sleeping bags.

Jikan watched as they readied themselves for bed and he laid himself down in front of Appa as well, leaning against a rock and closing his eyes. This in turn brought a thought to his mind.

'I need to get another sleeping bag.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meanwhile...

Azula was almost ready for sleep. She had put on her night robe and was making her way to her bed. In her mind she had gone over the day and what it meant for her. But one thought kept going through her mind. Who was it who tried to stop her on the earth slides? As well as what it was that nearly caused her to wipe out on the slides while persuing the avatar. All she could make out about the person was that they had black hair and was a young man around her age. Not that those clues gave her any better ideas but still, she felt a familiarity from the presence of the boy. That in itself was strange enough as she didn't know that many people who were at her age. Let alone boys. She decided to put more thought into the matter later as she pulled back the covers of her bed and slid under them to get some sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Next Day

Appa was flying in the sky with a massive swamp below him and a grey sky above. On him was Aang at the reigns, Katara who was reading a scroll, Sokka who was sharpening his machete, Enya was holding Momo who was looking over the edge of the saddle, and Jikan who was looking at the sky in thought. It was then that Sokka noticed that they were going lower in the air.

"Hey, you taking us down for a reason?" Sokka asked Aang, who blinked out of an apparent trance. "Aang why are we going down?"

"What? I didn't even notice." Aang replied.

"Well are you noticing now?" Sokka said while Appa was still lowering towards the treetops.

"Is something wrong?" Katara asked as she walked up towards her brother.

"Lost in thought perhaps?" Jikan asked from his place on the saddle.

"Guys I know this sounds wierd, but I think the swamp is..calling to me." Aang said while looking down at the trees.

Sokka placed his hand on his stomach and asked, "Is it telling you whare we can get something to eat?"

"No I, I think it wants us to land there."

"Yeah no offense to the swamp but, I don't see any land to land on." Sokka said while shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't know. Bumi said to learn Earthbending I'd have to wait and listen, and know I'm actually hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?"

"Yes." Sokka replied.

"I don't know. There's something ominous about that place." Katara said from her own looking point.

"I wouldn't say ominous Katara. Just rather...unnerving. Not threatening, but something to be wary of." Jikan said as he looked towards the front of Appa to see the trees coming closer.

"You'd probably rather burn it down." Katara said under her breath. Jikan heard what she said and his head lowered a little.

"It looks mucky and dirty." Enya said with Momo in her arms looking down at the swamp. Momo then started moving out of Enyas arms and Appa made a growling sound.

"See? Even Momo and Appa don't like it here." Sokka said to Aang.

Aang took the reigns tighter in his hands and said "Okay, if everyone feels so strongly about this, bye swamp. Yip yip!" This made Appa changed his course upwards.

Enya heard a slight rumbling growing louder behind her and looked back to see a tornado moving at them very fast. "Jikan! Look at that" Enya said while she tugged at Jikan's clothing and pointing at the tornado while smiling.

"Hm? What is it Enya-ahh!" Jikan shouted when he saw the tornado.

"Aang! You better throw in an extra yip, we need to move!" Sokka yelled when he saw the tornado as well.

Aang tugged at the reigns hard to make Appa move to the right then the left. But the tornado changed it's course to the left as well. Aang moved the reighns again to have Appa move to the right but again the tornado changed course. He did this at least three more times but the tornado wouldn't stop coming at them.

"Its following us!" Jikan yelled. Soon the tornado had moved so close that Sokka started to feel his feet leave the saddle. He yelled as he was suddenly being pulled out of the saddle and into the air. Katara quickly grabbed Sokka's hand to keep him from flying away. "Enya hold on to the saddle!" Jikan yelled and Enya quickly did so. Jikan then stood and put his arms behind him. His shadow rotated and covered his feet to ground him and then he swung his arms forwards to cross them.

Two long pieces of Sokka's shadow reached up and wrapped around his waist. Jikan lowered his arms and the motion was bringing Sokka down to the saddle. As he did so Aang jumped from Appa's head to the saddle and thrust his arms out to make the wind around Appa swirl into an orb. Sokka was pulled down almost immediately and Jikan released his shadows. They all looked to see Aang trying to sustain the orb of wind but straining to do so. Jikan saw that Aang wasn't going to be able to keep it up for much longer and grabbed Enya into his arms. Suddenly Aang couldn't hold the orb together and was forced to stop. The tornado's winds pulled everyone from their saddle and into the tornado where they were thrown in a circle until they were all practically thrown into the swamp below.

They all flew threw the trees until they eventually landed in the wet floor of the swamp. Though Aang used his airbending to slow his fall. Sokka, Katara, Jikan however were not as fortunate and were soaked. Enya was being held in Jikan's arms above the water and looking down at her reflection. Everyone got up quickly but were all agitated at the fact that they were now wet with swamp water, minus Enya.

"Is everyone alright?" Jikan asked. Sokka groaned as a response while Katara didn't answer.

"Hey wait, where's Appa and Momo?" Aang asked. He quickly started jumping up into the trees and started to yell for said animal companions.

"I was right, the water was yucky." Enya said looking at everyone when Jikan placed her on a dry root.

"Thankfully this swamp isn't one that gives off natural gases to make a bad smell." Jikan said as he tried his best to dry his upper body off.

"Come on guys, lets get to a more dry area." Sokka said. Jikan put Enya on his shoulders and the four started to walk through the water.

During such Jikan noticed that while Sokka was moving his arms something had placed itself on his elbow.

"Katara.." Jikan said to get her attention.

"What?" Katara sharply replied. To this Jikan softened his voice somewhat.

"I just thought you might want to know, your brother has...something on his arm." Jikan said while pointing.

Katara looked at Sokka and immediately pointed and said "Sokka you've got an elbow leech!"

Sokka started thrashing in the water screaming "Where? Where?" Quickly revealing a large black leech attached to him.

Katara crossed her arms and sighed out "Where do you think?"

Sokka looked to his left elbow and started tugging at it. "Why do things keep attaching to me?" Sokka finally got it off and threw it behind him. Unfortunately it nearly hit Katara before Jikan's arm swept out in front of her and swatted it away. Katara looked back to Sokka and made a rather angered face.

"Sokka you shouldn't thrash around like that in the water, you may attract some animals that we don't want to meet. There are some very deadly animals that live in swamps."

"So then we should listen to you since you have such immense knowledge on wildlife?" Katara questioned while looking at Jikan sternly.

"No, but I did like to learn about animals when I was younger." Jikan replied.

"Probably so you would learn how fast they would burn." Katara muttered as she moved forward as Aang swung down on a vine. "You couldn't find them?"

"No," Aang said "and the tornado...it just disappeared."

Sokka, Katara, and Jikan all gained puzzled looks at this information and turned around to look deeper into the swamp. When they turned around they heard a loud splashing sound behind them.

"I really hope that was a big fish." Sokka said.

"Either that or something we don't want to meet. As I said Sokka, we might want to tread carefully." Jikan said as they all turned back to continue walking.

A far ways behind them, a set of slitted eyes watched the five intently.

~~~Meanwhile~~~

Appa had found himself tied up in some of the swamp tree's vines and was trying to get free. Momo sprang up from his place on the saddle and jumped onto Appa's head to chew through a vine, then moved to another one. As he finished chewing through the fifth one Appa promptly fell to the swamp floor. He shook himself to get the water off of him and tried to fly again. Only to be caught in more vines and growled in agitation before Momo went to work on the vines again.

Sokka was using his machete to cut through the thick vines and weeds of the swamp while the rest of the group was following. "Come on guys, we better speed things up." he said before resuming cutting.

Aang was looking on from a root and was looking slightly nervous. "Sokka, maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp."

"Aang these are plants, do you want me to say please and thank you as I swing my machete back and forth?" Sokka replied.

"Respect nature Sokka, and it will respect you." Jikan said with Enya still on his shoulders.

"Maybe you should listen to Aang. Something about this place feels...alive."

Sokka sighed a bit as he turned back to face his sister. "I'm sure there are a lot of things that are alive here, and if we don't want to wind up getting eaten by them, we need to find Appa as fast as we can." After saying this, he went back to cutting the vines. While he did so he asked, "Hey Jikan, can that shadowbending of yours help us out?"

"I don't think I'd be that much help Sokka." Jikan said before looking upwards, "The canopy of the swamp is very thick and there are very few gaps to let light in to produce a shadow for me to bend. If there was a large gap maybe but for now I can't really do much."

"Lot of help that is." Katara said with her arms crossed.

Little did they know, they were being watched by something behind them.

Appa traveled on the muddy path while Momo cautiously sat in the saddle. Appa stopped when he found a large arched root blocking his path. When he couldn't find a way over it he plopped himself down on the ground.

Momo took this opportunity to reach into one of the bags and pulled out Appa's calling whistle and blew it as hard as he could. Appa winced and growled at Momo, but Momo blew the whistle a second time. So, to say 'Knock it off' Appa flipped his tail onto his back on Momo. When he lifted it Momo wobbled in a daze before falling over.

"Appa! Momo!" Katara yelled hoping she would be heard. The group finally found some dry land on a part a tree trunk and were walking up it. Jikan was carrying a tired Enya in his hands.

"Katara there's no way they can hear us, and no way we can see them. We should camp here for the night." Sokka said. Right after this he slapped the side of his head to try and swat an insect before attacking them with his machete with no results.

Blub!

"What was that?" Katara asked suddenly.

"Just swamp gas." Sokka said while pointing to the water," See? there's nothing supernatural about this place. UGH!"

"I was wrong, this is a swamp with the foul smelling natural gasses." Jikan said trying to cover his nose.

"Eww, that stinks worse than poo." Enya said.

"AHHHHHHH!" A piercing scream was heard by the group and sounded so close it was as if it was right next to them. Sokka and Aang suddenly held onto Katara and Enya tried to hide herself in Jikan's clothes. Jikan seemed unphased though.

"It's all right, you can all calm down. It's just a screaming finch see?" Jikan said while pointing to a branch where a white puffy bird was perched before flying away. "I guess I can see why you'd be scared being caught off guard and all."

"What about you? Weren't you scared?" Aang said still latched to Katara.

"Not really, I'm used to it's call. I used to have one as a pet when I was little." Jikan said while smiling.

Sokka, though still wide eyed, pulled away from Katara and hurriedly said "I think we should build a fire." He then ran off towards a root and began chopping it.

Aang, who had finally pried himself off of Katara, walked over to him. "Sokka, I think as long as we're here the more I think you shouldn't be doing that." He said with concern.

Sokka looked back to Aang and said "No it's okay, I asked the swamp. Right swamp?" Sokka reached over and grabbed a root and shook it while in a high pitched voice said 'No problem Sokka' before he cut a piece of it off.

Katara and Aang gave Sokka a pair of looks as he continued to get more fire wood. Soon they had a fire going and they were all sitting around the campfire and Jikan had Enya sleeping in his lap.

As they sat in silence Katara shivered slightly before turning around then turning back. "Does anyone else get the feeling we're being watched?"

Sokka, who was once again trying to kill an insect with his machete, replied with "Please. We're all alone out here." Suddenly said insect flashed into a bright ball of light before flying off into the trees. Where many inhuman eyes were shown to be staring at the group.

"Except for them." Aang said before the insect buzzed away and the eyes faded from view.

"Right, except for them." Sokka said before he, Katara, and Aang held each other again.

"Quite an audience." Jikan softly said before covering Enya with his arm.

The air was filled with constant chittering, tweeting, and croaking as Appa was lying on a giant branch of one of the trees. While it didn't seem to particularly bother Appa, Momo was running up and down Appa's back almost in a panic. Said bison's ear twitched slightly before opening his eyes and letting out a deep bellowing roar.

Everything shut up.

Satisfied, Momo lied down in the saddle, until...

...ribbit...

At the camp, the fire had died down into cindering sticks as everyone was asleep. As they were as such, none of them saw the vines creeping slowly up towards them. The first started to wrap around Sokka, slowly and silently without waking him. Vines crept up to wrap around Aang, Katara, Jikan, and Enya as well. Above them the fog seemed to swirl and circle.

Suddenly the vines yanked on all five of them, pulling them in different directions while they screamed.

"Enya!" Jikan screamed while being pulled away. Enya was yelling for him as the same happened to her.

The only one that was still in the clearing was Sokka because he had stabbed his machete into the ground to keep himself from being pulled. He acted quickly and used it to cut the vine on his torso first then continued with the rest of them. The cut vine retreated into the fog as Sokka stood back up. But more vines came back from fog reaching for Sokka.

Sokka ran down the root and fell into the water when one of the fines tripped him. He quickly got back up and continued running.

Katara was struggling to get the vines off of her with no success until she was able to reach down and uncork her water skin. She began to bend the water in an edged motion to cut away the vines and continued to cut them as she moved away from them. She repeated this several times with her arms swinging in wide motions and her index and middle fingers out. She finally got an opening and ran way from the vines as fast as she could, her water skin slightly uncorked.

Aang's solution to his entanglement was quick. He made the air swirl around him into a dome so that the vines were loosened. He jumped into the trees running on the branches and tried to jump to the next one but before he could land a vine wrapped around his leg and pulled him to the ground. Aang thrust his arm out while he was lieing down to bend the air into a blast strong enough to launch himself free and make himself fly through the air and landing onto a root.

He took a few breaths and looked around for the others. Seeing no one, he called out to them.

"Guys?"

Jikan was being pulled along the root as he struggled to get free. He was finally able to get himself standing up and as soon as he did he looked around.

'Come on, let there be something I can use! Where? Where?'

Jikan frantically looked around but found nothing. So he turned back to where the vines were coming from while still struggling against the vines. It was near the edge of the root when he saw his way out of this. A gap in the treetops allowed light from the moon to shine down to the ground. Jikan motioned his hand towards it. He turned his hand on it's side so that his palm was facing the left and then set it diagnaly before he swiped it upwards. The vines shadow in the small patch stretched up and cut the vine.

The vine constricting Jikan fell loose and he turned around to run back towards the direction he hoped he came from, all the while worrying for his friends saftey.

Enya, rather than being pulled along the ground, was lifted up and was being carried away. She also was trying to fight off the vine as it held her. It seemed to stop when it held her over a large root.

"Let me go, let me go, let me go!" Enya kept yelling. Suddenly she remembered something. "Please let me go." She said politely. The vine slowly moved down until it placed her on the root softly. "Thank you." Enya said politley again, and to her surprise the vine seemed to pat her on the head twice before retrackting into the swamps dense growth.

"Now I have to find everyone else, why do I have to do all the hard work?"

The print was a mystery. There had never been any like it seen before. The two individuals, one tall one short, where racking their brains to try to make sense of it until one of them asked the question.

"What'd you reckon make a track like that Tho?" The tall one said.

"Dun't know Due. Somthin with six legs." Said Tho. "Perdy bigg'uns too."

"Leaves a nice wide trail ta folla." Due said.

"You know what's at the end of that trail Due?"

Due shook his head for his answer.

"Heh heh, dinner."

Appa was swimming through the water as Momo was trying to catch an insect buzzing around his head. While trying to catch it, Momo got caught in the moment and flew after it when it buzzed away. When he landed the log he landed on turned out not to be a log. Rather it was a cat-gator that suddenly thrashed around to try and eat Momo.

Momo, although startled, flew back towards Appa while being chased by the hungry cat-gator. He reached Appa and landed on his head but the cat-gator unfortnatley swam into Appa's mouth. After a few seconds appa spat the gator back out and it roared up at Momo in angery protest. Momo hissed back before the gator turned around and swam the other way. Appa then gave off a growl.

But as the gator swam away it suddenly widened it's eyes and swam to the bank and sat on the ground as a very, very large shape swam through the water and under a gathering of roots leading away from this part of the river...

Katara walked through the ankle deep waters of the swamp and head been for a while, continuously calling out the names of her companions. While she was having no luck she was able to find a small clearing. She decided to try again and called out once more.

"Aang? Sokka?" No answer. She turned back to move forward and noticed someone in the distance facing away from them. "Hello?" She questioned as she kept walking forward. "Hello. Can you help me? I'm looking for-" Katara didn't finish her sentence as she started to recognize the figure.

"Mom?...MOM!" Katara burst into a run towards her mother as fast as she could. Her heart was beating faster then it ever had been and was filled with happieness. The started to cry tears of joy at her reunion with her mother long thought dead. She was finally reunited with the person she missed most in her life.

"MOM!" She yelled finally reaching her mother. "I can't beleive-!"

When Katara had touched her 'mother' and tried to turn her to look at her, she disppeared. In her place was large stump. Katara couldn't beleive it. All that happieness she shuddenly felt. All the pain of the loss of her mother was gone for just the smallest of seconds and then...shattered, and all Katara could do now was break down and cry.

Enya walked along the roots in search of her friends. So far she had no luck and was trying her best not to get wet again.

"Jikan! Sokka! Aang! Mean Lady! Where is everyone?" She yelled. She kept walking but she seemed to only be going in circles. She had kept going until she decided to take a break and sit down on the root she was on. "The one time I need to be loud noone hears me." She sighed. While she was sitting she suddenly heard a splashing behind her. "Hello?" She asked as she turned around. Just as she did so, she saw a form move behind another root.

"Hey wait a second! Is that you Sokka?" Enya slid down the root she had been sitting on and ran to the other root. "Where is everyone!" When Enya finally ran around the root she saw two figures she never thought she'd see again. On her left was a woman with long black hair and brown skin. On her right was a man with brownish hair. Both where facing away from Enya, but she didn't need to see their faces to know who they were.

"Mama...papa?" Enya started to run towards the two persons as fast as she could. "Mama! Papa! You came back! I missed you so-whaaa!" Enya suddenly tripped on something hidden in the water and fell forward into the shallow water. She pushed herself back up to see that both of her 'parents' were gone. Enya crawled up to another root and held her knees close to her. "Sniff...I miss you..."

Shortly after saying this, Enya started to wail in sadness.

"Enya! Katara! Aang, Sokka can you hear me?" Jikan ran, jumped and swung over every branch, root, and rock in his path. He cursed himself for not having a better grip on Enya and not being alert enough to notice the vines. He guessed that the fact that because he was with others he could afford to have a little slack in his life. Jikan kept running until he landed on a piece of earth in the middle of a ring of roots and a pond.

"Where is everyone..." Jikan stood there trying to get his sense of direction back. Then he heard movement around him. Jikan turned and saw nothing around him. But then he heard something very familiar. A sound familiar with that of someone blowing air very hard through a wooden tube.

FOOOOM!

Pure red fire erupted from around him in a circle right on the edge of the water. Then Jikan heard it, the laughter.

"Hahahaha..."

A laughter made from someone who was enjoying themselves as if they were playing with their pet.

"You! Why are you here? How did you find me?"

FOOOOM!

Another blowing sound and then the trees above him burst into red fire as well.

"YOU CAN'T BE HERE! If you were here, you would have left that position of power you love so much. You would never do that."

"Hahahaha. Didn't have the spine to learn how to use fire did you? How utterly pathetic..."

Suddenly the flames started to increase and spread over the water. Jikan saw on the otherside of the flames the form of someone dressed in the traditional Fire Nation clothes of a noble but with one exception: a long, thin tube like oblject was held in their hands

"You...CANNOT...be here!" Jikan brought both his fists to touch his forehead and slammed them down to the ground. Jikan's shadow suddenly expanded into a pilar of blackness around Jikan, blocking his view of the outside world.

'He can't be here. He just can't...' Jikan thought. As he started to slowly dismiss his shadow. When it was no longer blocking his sight Jikan found no more flames and the person was gone.

"Thank the spirits." Jikan sighed as he brought his hand to his face. When he relaxed himself a ibt he continued to travel again. After five minutes or so of waking Jikan found himself on a large root again and decided to sit down to rest a while. No sooner than he did so did he hear a small sniffleing off in the distance. Jikan stood, turned and started to walk slowly in the direction of the sound.

"Hello?" Jikan called but upon receiving no answer he called again but louder.

Enya was still crying when she heard someone.

"Hello? Who's out there?"

Enya's head sprang up and she stood to run the instant she heard the voice. She'd know it anywhere.

"Jikan!"

"Enya? Enya hang on I'm coming to you!" Jikan yelled back when he began his running. When he reached the other side of the root he found himself facing a wall of vines hanging from the tree. "Enya can you still hear me?" Jikan shouted again.

"Jikan!" Enya burst through the draped vines and jumped onto Jikan nearly pushing him down. "I found you, I found you!" Enya kept saying as she hugged him. Jikan himself kneeled down and hugged her as well.

"This swamp should have known I couldn't get rid of you so easily." Jikan said softly as he held who he considered as a little sister to him. After a short time Jikan stod up with Enya in his arms.

"Enya, did you see anyone else? Aang, Sokka, or Katara?"

"No. I was alone until you found me."

"Alright. Well let's see if we can find them now." Jikan said as he started to walk again.

"It's like we're playing hide and seek." Enya said with a smile and drying eyes.

"Yep. Playing hide and seek, only we're playing it in a living, kidnapping swamp." Jikan said with slight distress on his face.

"Hey Jikan?"

"What is it Enya?"

"If we find the mean lady first, can we wait until we find Aang and Sokka?"

"Enya, what makes want to do that?" Jikan said with concern.

"She's not very nice to you so she needs a time out!" Enya's face was very pouty when she said this.

Jikan looked down at her with his onyx eyes and said softly "Enya, she has all right to be mad. Many bad things probably happened to her because of bad people from where we come from."

"But you didn't do it did you?"

"No but still, when you're hurt like that...it's very hard to make all those bad feelings go away. You know what that feels like don't you Enya?"

Enya pressed her head against Jikan's chest and with a sad voice replied, "Yes."

"So lets try our best to make her a bit more cheerful how about you?"

"Ok...but she still needs a time out!"

Jikan chuckled at Enya's response but stopped walking when he thought he heard something. It sounded like someone was crying.

"Enya do you hear that?" Jikan asked.

"Huh?" Enya looked around while listening. "Yeah it sounds like someones crying."

"Come on Enya, lets see if it's someone we know." Jikan said before he started walking in the direction of the sound. Jikan hoped it wasn't one of his friends who were crying.

"AAAAAAANG!" Swipe. "Stupid swamp, DUMB UGLY VINES!" Sokka grumbled and yelled as he chopped and sliced through the growth of the swamp and waded through the water. "KATARA!"

Sokka turned and found himself stopped by a group of vines. "Ugh! You think you're so tuff huh?" He said before trying to get loose. Unfortunetley he became tangled in a way that when he cut himself free, he fell into the water flat on his face. After blowing some bubbles in the water Sokka lifed himself up and opened his eyes...and in front of him was a brightly glowing person wrapped in ornate cloths.

"Hello?" He asked before he put his machete away. As he got closer he saw that the person was, "Yue?" Sokka reached up to hold his head.

"This isn't real. It's just a trick of the light. Swamp gas. I hit my head running away last night. I'm going crazy." Sokka said to himself as he turned himself around into a full circle to face 'Yue' again. But when he saw her, he couldn't help but walk towards her.

When Sokka was in front of her, Yue spoke in an echoing voice. "You didn't protect me."

Sokka tightly shut his eyes and rubbed them. When he opened them again...nothing was in front of him. He sighed and turned around to leave, but Yue was standing in front of him.

"Ah!" Sokka yelled in fright as he stumbled backwards into the water. When he fell he put his eyes back to where Yue was and once again found nothing. Sokka stood up with a serious face and pulled out his machete to continue on his path again.

As Jikan walked closer to the source of the sounds of crying he stopped and placed Enya on the ground. "Stay quiet Enya. I'll be back." Jikan said. He didn't know wether or not this was going to be another illusion or if it was an actual person. Jikan walked over the roots blocking his view and saw in a small clearing with light shining down on it, Katara. She was crying.

Jikan slid down the root and slowly slipped into the water. He started to walk towards Katara who was sitting down with her face in her hands. Behind Jikan Enya climbed up on the root he climbed over.

Jikan walked up to where he was right behind Katara. Apparently she was in so much greif that she didn't hear him. He reached out to place his hand on her shoulder.

"Katara..."

As soon as his hand touched Katara's shoulder, she whipped her head around to see him. Her face turned to one of great anger upon seeing him.

"Raaaaah!" Katara yelled in anger as she outstretched her arms and moved them in a wide sweep to bend the water around her into a powerful stream of water that hit Jikan in his side, sending him away while making him roll in the water a few times. When he stopped he looked to Katara with a look of shock and confusion.

"WHY CAN'T YOU LEAVE US ALONE! Why don't you go away!" She screamed at him, her eyes still filled with tears.

Jikan, still sitting in the water, looked up to her and tried to talk. "Katara listen I'm trying to help-"

"No! No you're not! The Fire Nation doesn't help anyone but themselves! You're wrong, you are monsters! Each and every one of you, just like the ones who attacked my home and killed my mother! You're not-"

THK!

"Ow!" Katara was suddenly hit in the head with a small dirt clod.

"STOP IT!" Jikan and Katara turned to se Enya running towards them, her hand dirtied by the clump of dirt she had just thrown. "Jikan didn't do anything to you! I didn't either! You want to hurt people from the Fire Nation? Then hurt me too!"

Jikan's eyes widened at this. Katara was in a very emotional state fueld by sadness and anger. As Jikan knew, those two things can effect a person's train of thought greatly, that coupled with the fact that he didn't know Katara all that well, made him act upon his first thought. Jikan immeadiatly pushed himself of the ground to place him kneeling right next to Enya with his arm in front of her.

Katara was taken aback by what both Enya said and what Jikan had done.

"I...I wouldn't hurt..." She started to say.

"We're not bad people! Jikan's not bad! He helped me, the army came and took my mommy and daddy away and I'LL NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN!" Enya yelled at the top of her lungs.

That's what hit Katara hard. Enya had lost both of her parents to the Fire Nation, and she was FROM the Fire Nation. So was Jikan.

"Jikan's not bad. He took care of me. He gave be another family. He didn't do anything bad!"

'That's right...' Katara thought, 'He saved her.'

"SO DON'T YELL AT HIM!" Enya yelled to finish her statements.

Katara stood there looking at both of them and she felt a tremendous guilt upon herself. Enya was right. Jikan wasn't a monster. He was trying to help both them and his homeland. But for his home he was trying to restore it's honor to help bring peace back to the world.

Jikan relaxed himself when he saw Katara no longer had a look in anger in her eyes. He stood up and faced her with a look of concern.

"Katara..." Jikan started.

"Jikan I'm..." Katara was about to say.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Jikan and Katara turned to see a huge cat-gator charge at them from the opposite side of the clearing. Thinking quickly, Jikan scooped up Enya into his arms while Katara jumped away from the charging beast. The two wound up on either side of the clearing and the cat-gator turned to look back at it's possible food on both sides.

Jikan set down Enya without his eyes leaving the large beast. "Enya, when I tell you to, run to the big roots we got over to get to here alright?"

"Ok." Enya said fearfully.

The cat-gator settled it's eyes on Jikan and Enya, focusing more on Enya seeing her as young prey, or, easy pickings.

"Now Enya!" Jikan shouted.

Enya started to run as fast as her little legs could carrie her. The giant cat-gator saw this and started charging again. Jikan rushed in front of the beast's path ready to bend his shadow on the water. But instead, suddenly the water in front of the cat-gator rose up and sloidified into ice. The cat-gator crashed into it head first and started to stumble on it's four legs. Jikan looked over to see Katara holding her hands up before she started towards Jikan.

"Run! Get Enya away from here I'll hold it back!"

"Got it!" Jikan shouted back before grabbing Enya and running towards the roots. When he was in range he twisted his right arm up then pushed it down while rotating his upper body. Jikan's shadow on the water burst up from under him sending him upwards at the roots. He landed and set Enya down.

"Enya stay here." Jikan said before he turned back to where Katara was facing down the cat-gator.

Katara stood there ready, with plenty of water around. The gator was shaking it's head while recovering. When it saw Katara in it's sight instead of it's previous prey, it decided to go after her. It slapped it's tail against the ground and started it's charge.

'For something so big it sure moves fast.' She thought. Katara moved her arms back and circled them upwards. With them came the water behind her. She thrust her arms forward and the water followed. The gator was hit with the torrent and was pushed back until it was facing sideways. With Katara sending the water at it's head, it wipped it's finned tail into the water at Katara. It caused the mud and water to fly forwards. Katara was too focused on the gator to notice it flying at her until it was too late. It hit her head and made her lose her footing and disrupt her bending. When the water stopped flowing at it, the gator charged at Katara.

When within range the gator made t's move and lunged at Katara who had just regained her footing.

"GRAAAAA!" The gator roared as it's jaws came closer. Katara saw it's jaws open and the rows of teeth shine. Katara put her arms in front of herself in a futile attempt to defend herself. The jaws came closer until they were half a foot away untill finally...

WHAM!

"Katara!" Aang yelled out as he hopped over some small thin trees. "Appa!" Aang yelled again, but still no answer. "Hello?" Aang coninued walking until he saw something peculiar. Two forms were on the hill in front of him. "Who are you?" he asked. His only response was laughing from one figure which shown itself to be a little girl in noble clothes. The second was a winged boar that took flight, and the girl turned and jumped from the hill.

"Hey! Wait come back!" Aang called as he chased after her and jumped over the hill she was on with his airbending. But when he landed he found nothing.

"Heheheheh."

Aang turned around and saw the girl again on a tree branch behind him this time. But she was still giggling. Aang jumped again into the trees and grabbed hold of the vines to swing on one after another in the direction the girl went. Until he heard her again, behind him AGAIN. So he changed his direction on the vine and swung back. To the ground and began to run. Aang hadn't taken fifeteen steps until he heard giggling, again behind him. On another tree.

"Ugh! You know this is getting pretty annoying!" Aang yelled again bfore jumping into the trees again.

Appa and Momo where traveling again. Appa was swimming through the water and fog with, thankfully, no problems. Untill that is, when the fog cleared and in the water in front of Appa were three boats with people dressed in leaves.

"..."

They stared at each other not saying a thing. Tho licked his lips when he saw Appa.

Momo had lots of things however to say as he chittered atop Appa's head getting the attention of Due.

"Looky there Tho. Is tha lil hairy feller ridin that thing?"

"Naw, thats what they call a lemu. Saw one in a trevelin show once. Real smart they say." Tho replied.

"Bet it tastes jus like possum-chicken." Due said.

"You think ever'thin tastes like possum-chicken." Tho remarked.

Due decided to take action as he slowly leaned forward and started to talk to Appa and Momo. "Come on lil fellas, just a lil closer. Nice and easy. Nothin ta worry about. We just fixin' ta eat'cha."

"...grrrr." Appa growled as he turned around and HAULED HIS FURRY BUT OUTTA THERE.

"What'ya say that fer?" Tho demanded.

"Well we are!" Due responded.

"But'cha don't have ta tell 'em that!"

"Well how'd I know they'd understand me?"

"Come on! Let's move!"

Due stood up and started waving his right arm and the water below them began churning. He then started to move his arms in a repeated circled pattern. This form of bending made the water push the boats they were in forward after Appa. Appa was moving so fast in order to get away that he was skipping on the water.

Crash!

Katara opened her eyes to see that the gator was on the other side of the clearing. She looked to the other side to become astonished at what she saw. She had known that Jikan could bend his shadow and he saw his demonstration at the rebel camp but this was the first time she had seen something at this level.

Before Katara was Jikan in a stance with his arms out. From in, and under the roots behind him and from the water in front of him were eight square shaped pillars of shadow. Jikan had used them to push the gator away from her. Jikan retracted the pillars and rushed over to Katara's side.

"What are you doing?" Katara asked.

"Helping. You alright?" Jikan asked back.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Then lets turn him into a purse."

The gator had gotten back up and was charging again.

"Katara block his view!" Jikan as he ran at it.

Katara bent some of the wateraround her and sent it at the gator's eyes, when it hit her target she blew out and turned it to ice. Jikan suddenly dropped to his knees and bent his arms shadow to swirl around his arms to his fists. He pulled both his arms back and punched outwards. From his fists shot out two orbs of shadow. Both orbs made contact with the inside of the gators elbows on it's front legs. The gator's front went down and stopped it's movement and Jikan sprinted from his position and jumped onto the gator's back to run to it's tail. Jikan jumped and landed behind it to place his arms in front of him then make a pushing motion with his arms. Jikan's shadow as well as the shadows of two trees extended and connected to the gator's shadow.

"Alright now Lift him up!" Jikan shouted as he moved into a push up position. Katara got into a stance and started to bend as much water as she could into the clearing. When she felt likle she had enough prepaired she looked to Jikan to be shocked once more. Jikan was lifting his lower body up from his push up position into an angled handstand. This movement was also raising the large shadow he had formed, lifting the gator's lower body up to flip it. The gator was trying to move but it's lower body was too high up, it was practically doing a handstand now.

Jikan took one of his legs and pulled it back before kicking it out with great force. The shadow lifting the gator suddenly pushed forwards and actually did flip the gator with it's back falling towards Katara. Katara planted her feet and swooped her arms low before raising them up together to make a geiser that lifted the gator up. Katara held her stance to keep the gator there but it was becoming difficult to hold it there as it was thrashing and trying to fall off of it.

"You got him?" Jikan, now in a full handstand, yelled to Katara.

"Yes, but I'm not sure how much longer!" Katara yelled back.

"Then I'll deliver the finisher." Jikan said before rotating his body so that is back was to Katara before setting him self down to stand into an upright stance facing the gator. Jikan bent his legs with his right leg out. He then made a motion with his arms as if gathering things to him. From every dark place made by the light in the clearing, shadows reached out to Jikan. Jikan commanded them all to come together and wrap around his legs to cover them completely. When his legs were like this he made one more gesture.

Jikan brought his right arm up and slammed it into the water with his open palm. His own shadow expanded into a large circle beneath him and rose up, lifting Jikan into the air. Jikan jumped off of the black structure into the air and flipped towards the gator and put out his shadow covered legs.

Katara saw this and hoped her timing was right as she released the geiser. For a split second the gator was stuck in the air. That was all the time Jikan needed.

Jikan's kick hit directly into the side of the gator and upon impact, the shadows on his legs burst forth in a wave of force, sending the gator to slam it into the trees behind it. It fell to the ground with another angry groan. The impact also shattered the ice off of it's eyes. It turned and faced the two benders with anger in it's eyes and looked as if it was ready for one last attack.

Jikan landed next to Katara and stood back up. "You got one more of those in you Katara?" Jikan asked.

"Always." She replied.

"Together then." Jikan said before taking up a stance. Katara did the same making them standing with their backs to each other. The gator charged again with fury in it's eyes.

"Haaaaaaaaa..."  
"Haaaaaaaaa..."

Jikan and Katara turned their bodies around: Jikan to his left, Katara to her right. Katara pulled water up and together into another torrent, this time it was moving with her arms not just going upwards. Jikan moved anf collected shadows from everywhere in his sight once more into a large serpintineing mass.

"HAAAA!" Both Katara and Jikan yelled together as their elements combined, Jikan's shadows blackening the muddy water. They both turned to face the gator with Katara's left arm tucked in and her right arm out with her hand open and facing the left. Jikan's left arm was tucked in with his left hand resting on the inside of his elbow while his right arm was out with only his index, middle, and thumb finger out. Together they released their black torrent of shadowed water onto it.

The torrent his the gator right below it's jaws into it's neck and upper body. The force from the combined elements was enough to push the gator back into the trees again but it went higher than before and even broke through some of the branches of the trees before Katara and Jikan stopped their bending. When theyr did the gator still was flying for a distance before dropping into the deeper water below it. After thrashing around to get itself upright the gator loudly roared in anger and swam off into the river.

Jikan and Katara stood there calming down from their battle. During such, Enya slid down the root she was hiding on and started running at the two.

"Yaaaaaay! We won! We won!" She yelled in celebration. She ran up to Jikan and leaped up onto his leg in happieness.

"Yes Enya we did. Are you all right?" Jikan said happily, matching Enya's mood.

"Yep! Thanks to you guys."

"Yeah, thanks to both of us." Jikan said again while looking to Katara. Said waterbender was looking to Enya then to Jikan. She took in a deep breath before she started to speak.

"Listen Jikan.."

"No Katara please, allow me to say something." Jikan interupted. Katara started to worry bt Jikan had put on a gentle face and spoke with a calm voice. "I didn't know how great a loss you had suffered, and I wish I could understand or relate to the pain but I can't because my mother, although very distant from me, is still alive and well. What I do understand is the fact that you have not had any feelings of closure or justice. But please allow me to do something for you." Jikan looked Katara strait in her eyes and said a sentence she thought she would never hear in her lifetime.

"Katara, on behalf of those of us in the Fire Nation that are not involved in it's wars...I apologize for your loss."

Katara didn't know what to say. She had honestly never expected something like this to happen. Jikan was just standing there after he had said the apology and was giving her an actual look of regret despite the fact that he had done nothing specifically to her or her family. Katara's eyes started to tear up and she looked to the ground.

Jikan was starting to worry when Katara wasn't sayting anything and was getting more worried when he saw her start to cry again.

"Katara, I'm sorry if I've said anything innappropriate. I was just trying to-oof!" Jikan was unable to finish his sentence as he was hugged by Katara who was crying again, though this time not in sorrow.

"Thank you. I'm sorry I wasn't kind to you and I don't think you're a monster. Thank you so much Jikan." Katara said as she cried on Jikans shoulder.

"You're welcome Katara, and no apologies needed. But.." Jikan pulled back from Katara and extended his hand. "Friends?"

Katara wiped her eyes clean and looked back to Jikan and grasped his hand in hers. "Yeah friends." With those words they shook hands.

"All right then, let find Aang and Sokka." Jikan said when they retracted their hands and started walking.

Aang was still chasing after the giggling girl, this time he was on the ground. She had run behind a few trees this time and Aang was going after her. He had come up to a curtain of moss and moved it out of the way to see a form he thought was the girl.

"Who are you?" Aang asked before he jumped over some roots and ran towards her.  
~~~~~~~~

Jikan, Katara, and Enya were standing on a root when they thought they heard something. Jikan and Katara were facing one direction trying to look through the underbrush when Enya suddenly cried out in surprise. When Jikan looked to her he saw that she had dived to the side. Katara turned around and saw a blur of yellow and red coming at her and yelled in surprise when it collided with her and she collided with Jikan. When they collided they started to slide down a root with Enya running after them yelling.

"Wait for me!"

Sokka was walking when he suddenly heard a strange noise. He quickly brought up his machete but it wasn't any help as Aang, Jikan, and Katara collided into him from behind. They rolled for a few seconds until they reached the bottom of the root. When Sokka got back up and saw who it was he commented on finally being reunited with the other.

"What do you guys think you're doing? I've been looking all over for you!"

"Well I've been out wondering around looking for you!" Katara yelled back.

"We also had to fight off a giant gator." Jikan added.

"My feet got all muddy!" Enya said when she slid down the root.

"I was chasing some girl." Aang said before he used his airbending to stand.

"What girl?" Katara asked.

"I don't know. I heard laughing and I saw some girl in a fancy dress." Aang answered helping Katara up.

"Well there must be a tea party here, and we just didn't get our invitations." Sokka said.

"I thought I saw mom." Katara said saddeningly.

Everyone stayed silent a little and Sokka's head fell a little before raising it and speaking his mind. "Look, we were all just scared and hungry and our minds were playing tricks on us. That's why we all saw things out here."

"You saw something too?" Katara asked.

"I thought I saw Yue, but that doesn't proove anything. Look I think about her all the time, and you saw mom, someone you miss a lot."

"What about me?" Aang began, "I didn't know the girl I saw, and all of our visions led us here."

"Ok so where's here? The middle of the swamp?" Katara asked.

"Yeah," Aang moved to face behind himself, "The center. It's the heart of the swamp. It's been calling us here. I knew it!"

Aang had turned to face a gigantic tree, with it's roots going in every direction.

"Wow...that's biiiiiiig." Enya said trying to look to the top of the tree.

"It's just a tree. It can't call anyone. For the last time, there's nothing after us and there's nothing magickal happening here."

SPLASH!

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A wave of water suddenly rose up from the other side of the root and with it came a large green creature. Making the group, once again, grab onto Katara in fear. Before sepparating that is. Aang and Katara rang in different direction, Sokka ran into the shallow water and Jikan ran into the water as well but in a different direction than Sokka.

Jikan didn't see the creature do it but it had stretched out it's arm to grab Sokka by his legs, making him scream as he was pulled back.

Aang had jumped onto a root and turned to see the creature waving Sokka about and trying to throw him into the water. Aang quickly pulled his hands back and pushed forward a wave of air that broke the arm of the creature and released Sokka. It did little good though as it drew back it's other arm and sent it at Aang who had a surprised look on his face. The arm hit him and sent Aang flying back into the woods.

Sokka was using his machete to cut up the remains of the creature's arm that was still on him when it moved upwards and reatached itself to the creature who then reached down and grabbed Sokka again. With Sokka screaming in it's hands again it started to move through the water before Katara used her water bending to make a jetstream of water to cut at the shoulder.

Jikan meanwhile was running after them having found a safe place for Enya to hide.

'Dang it, there's almost absolutley no shadow here for me to bend. I'll have to improvise.' He thought as he rushed over to where the creature was fighting Katara off by swinging it's limbs.

When it had made another swing Katara bent the water to make a strong wave to push it into a root.

"Ahhhhhh!" Sokka screamed while still being held in it's hand.

Katara took the oppertunity to bend the water to part for her to run at the creature but before she could get to it the creature put it's chest out and it's green 'flesh' expanded outward to hit Katara and send her flying just as Aang had returned to join the fight. Aang, distrected by Katara's situation, was blown back as well. Jikan had caught up to the creature and saw that it was retracting it's stretched mass and doing something with it's arms to maneuver Sokka to wrap him up in it's torso.

"Aang! Can you make a hole in the trees?" Jikan shouted.

Aang, who had been able to recover, looked up to the tree tops and found the one closest to the ground. "I don't know if I can make a big one."

"Any size will do." Jikan shouted back while he saw Sokka trying to hold off the mass of the creature.

Aang jumped up to the tree branches and started to bend the air around him into a spiral and jumped up to the branches and blew many vines, moss, and branches out of the area his bending blew through. When Aang was done he let himself fall to the ground to look back up. The hole he made was honestly bigger than he thought it would be.

Jikan acted quickly and ran over into the light next to Aang so that his shadow appeared. Jikan placed his hands in front of his chest with his palms facing downwards and quickly moved them outwards. Jikan's shadow expanded and added itself with the shadows of the branches that were still in the line of light. Jikan flipped his hands upwards and pushed them forward, his shadow followed and stretched out to the creature black ropes. Jikan brought his arms to cross at his forearms in front of him and the shadow wrapped around the creature at it's base.

"Got it. This thing isn't going anywhere."

Appa, who was now full on flying above the water, was still trying to get away from his persuers. Behind him the swamp dwelling water benders continued to chase Appa but Due suddenly got hit in the head with something. Wondering where it came from he looked up to see Momo throwing miscellaneous items from the saddle at them. The next item was a shirt that had wrapped itself around the head of one of the boat drivers of the group. Tho saw this and a question came to his mind.

"Now what would a lemu need a shirt fer?"

Soon after saying this, the boat with the blinded driver wiped out. As Appa was running he had his head turned back and didn't see the branch up ahead of him. Appa passed under it without problems but Momo who was on Appa's back in the saddle colided with it and was knocked off of Appa. Tho was prepaired and put out his bag to catch Momo and tied the top before setting it down with Momo in it. At this Appa growled again while he kept running.

Sokka was trying to cut away from his captor with his machete with little results while Jikan continued to hold it down at it's base. Aang took the oppertunity and formed his air ball to quickly place himself on top of the creature. Once there Aang rotated his arms to make the wind swirl around the creature to tightly wind it up. Once done Aang jumped off while Katara placed herself on a nearby root. She moved her hands in front of her face before breathing out to chill the area that held Sokka. It was frozen into a circle of ice and Katara quickly moved her arms down to separate the frozen part from the rest of it before she bent the water behind her to push herself into the area Sokka was. The impact drove her into Sokka and pushed them both out the other side to land in front of Jikan.

The creature reformed itself from it's twisted up shape and raised it's 'arms' upwards. Vines grew from the ground and filled the hole that was in the creature's chest. At this Jikan's eyes widened.

'How does this thing know how to do THAT?' He thought breifly before the creature tried to move out of Jikan's hold.

Aang suddenly jumped up from behind it and used his airbending to send a rush of wind into the back of it and pushed it's head down into the water. Aang landed in front of it and suddenly it lifted itself back up. Before Aang had time to react the creature swung it's arm and sent Aang flying. Katara saw this and turned to the creature before swinging her arms in forward circles. This was bending the water into razor edged rings that were sent along the water into the green thing's body. In doing so the inside of the creature was revealed and Sokka shouted what he saw.

"There's someone in there! He bending the vines.

Katara acted quickly and jumped while bending the water behind her to whip up into the 'face' of her opponent making a diagnal cut. The top of the now confirmed construct slid off and fell to the ground. But suddenly vines shot up from it's base and tangled themselves around Katara. From behind everybody Aang had jumped and landed in front of the vines and burst at it a powerful blast of air. This forced the vines to be blown away and the person inside could barly bend the vines.

"Why did you call me here if you just wanted to kill us?" Aang demanded.

"Wait!" Said a voice from the vines. They had untangled themselves and fell to reveal an old man with a beard and downswept hair. "I didn't call you here."

At this Katara, Sokka, Jikan, and Aang turned to look at each other. Aang looked back to the man and began to speak.

"We were flying over the swamp when I heard something calling to me, telling me to land."

"He's the Avatar." Sokka said. "Stuff like that happens to us alot."

"The Avatar? Come with me." The man said as he motioned behind him.

Everyone looked to each other and visibly relaxed before turning back to the man.

After Jikan retreived Enya from her hiding spot, the group followed the man back to the giant tree. When they got there, Aang asked the first question.

"So who are you then?"

"I protect the swamp from folks who want to hurt it." The man said while moving a vine out of his way, "Like this fellow here with his big knife."

"See? Completely reasonable. Not a monster, just a regular guy defending his home." Sokka said while putting away his machete. "Nothing mystical about that."

"Oh the swamp is a mystical place all right." Began the man. "It's sacred. I reached enlightenment right here under the banyon grove tree. I heard it calling me just like you did."

"Sure you did. It seems real chatty." Sokka said.

"See this whole swamp it just one tree spread out over miles. Branches spread and sink and take root and then spread some more. One big living organism, just like the entire world."

"Wow..." Enya said with amazment.

Aang looked to the man with a question in mind. "I get how the tree is one big thing, but, the whole world?"

"Sure. You think you're any different from me or your friends or this tree? If you listen hard enough you can hear every living thing breathing together. You can feel everything growing. We are all living together even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots, and we are all branches of the same tree."

"But what did our visions mean?" Katara asked.

"In the swamp, we see visions of people we lost, people we loved. Folks we think are gone, but the swamp tells us they're not. We're still connected to 'em. Time is an illusion and so is death."

"But what about my vision? It was someone I had never met." Aang said.

"You're the Avatar, you tell me."

"Time is an illusion. So ...it's someone I will meet."

At this the man nodded with a smile.

"What about mine?" Jikan asked causeing the others to look at him. "In mine I saw someone I know and I know they are very well alive."

"Ah you had one of those. Apparently you've got someone in your life that a big part of it. Someone that you're destined to meet throut your life."

Jikan sighed at the man's answer. "Terrific."

"Hey guys sorry to interupt the lesson, but we still need to find Appa and Momo." Sokka said while standing up.

"I think I know how to find them." Aang said. He got up and placed his hand on the tree's root and closed his eyes. "Everything is connected."

Suddenly the arrow tattoed on Aang's right hand started to glow. In Aang's mind he saw the pulse flow from his hand into the root out into the swamp. There he saw Appa being trapped in a net by strangers.

"Come on. We've got to hurry!"

"Set my lines near the riverbed," Tho sung, "caught ten fish and I killed 'em dead. Cut 'em, and gut 'em and I toss the heads into the water ta keep them kaka eaters fed."

WooooooOOOOOSH! CRASH!

The boats the swamp folk were traveling on were suddenly upturned by a wave of water.

"Appa!" Aang yelled before he blasted Tho off his boat with wind. This also set Momo free from the sack he was held in.

"We're under attack!" Due yelled. He moved his arms back before sweeping them forwards to bend the water behind him into a wave. Aang and Katara started to push back the wave with their own bending.

"Hey, you guys are waterbenders." Katara noticed.

"You too? That means we-a kin!" Due said which made Katara make a face. As they let the wave drop Sokka, Jikan holding Enya, and the old man came running up on the root Aang and Katara were on.

"Hey Huu! How you been?" Due asked.

"You know, scared some folks, swung some vines, the ususal."

"Huu?" Sokka said with an eyebrow raised with everyone els looking at Huu.

Later that night the group had been invited to the cook out the swamp folk were holding and were sitting around the fire.

"So how you like that possum-chicken?" Due asked.

"Tastes like arctic hen." Sokka answered. "So why were you guys so interested in eating Appa? You've got plenty of those big things wandering around."

"You want me ta eat ol' Slim? He's like a member of the family." Due said before feeding Slim a fish.

"Nice slim." Sokka said before trying to feed it a bug. Slim turned and started to growl at Sokka when the bug bounced off his mouth. "Ah!"

"Hahahahaha! Oh he don't eat no bugs. That's people food."

"Were'd you say you was from?" Tho asked.

"The south pole." Said Katara.

"Didn't know there was waterbenders anywhere but here. They got a nice swamp there do they?"

"No, it's all ice and snow."

"Hm, no wonder you left."

"Well I hope you realize now that nothing strange was going on here. Just a bunch of greasy people living in a swamp." Sokka said to his sister.

"What about the visions?"

"I told you, we were hungry. I'm eating a giant bug!"

"So is Enya surprisingly." Jikan said while he looked at Enya who was eating said insect with much joy.

"But what about when the tree showed me where Appa and Momo where?" Aang asked.

"That's Avatar stuff, that doesn't count. The only thing I can't figure out is how you made the tornado that sucked us down." Sokka said directing the last of his sentence towards Huu.

Huu looked slightly surprised at this and said his reply. "I can't do anything like that. I just bend the water in the plants."

"So thats what you were doing! I honestly thought you were useing something like woodbending."

Huu laughed at this. "Nope. Sorry son but there aint no such thing."

"Thats what you think." Jikan whispered to himself.

"Well no accounting for weather. Still there's absolutely nothing mysterious about this swamp.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH-ck!"

"Another screaming finch? I hate those things." Sokka said.

"Yeah but it sounded like it got cut off for some reason." Jikan added.

Many miles away, a man was walking down the street in moonlight. He suddenly heard a noise and pulled out his twin swords.

"Who's there?" He called.

But no sound was made back to him. As he was turning to se of there was anyone behind him his left wrist was grabbed and his sword was wrenched from his grip. He was sharply pulled forward and his other wrist was twisted to make him let go of his sword. When it fell from his hand he was trown into a stack of boxes. From the shadows came a stranger that reached down and picked up the swords as his own.

A stranger with a blu Oni mask...

There you go ladies and gentlemen! A new chapter detailing the episode 'The Swamp.' First off, I'd like to say again sorry for the long update. I'm sorry if the whole scene of Katara and Jikan fighting together was a bit too...uh...how to put it, Dragonball-ish, but I really wanted to make it an epic seen as it shows Katara now trusting Jikan after realizing that although he's a proud son of the fire nation, he's not her mother's killer.

I also want to take the time to explain something as I feel it ma raise questions and cinfusion. You might all be wondering 'How can Jikan's shadow be used as a projectile weapon and how can he solidify shadows in general?'

Answers are as follows: Jikan's projectiles are like Aang's blasts of air. They deliver an impact that can be concussive, but they can't really damage someone. Unless maybe he shapes the shadow into an edged form or a sharp shape.

As to how the shadows are made solid...eh...lets go with it this way. His chi is fused into the shadows around him when he bends them. (P.S.-This may lead me to coming up with a secondary ability for shadowbending. I.E.: lightning bending from fire, ice and bloodbending from water, metalbending from earth, something like that. Ideas are also welcome.)


End file.
